U.S. state Alaska gathered 18,000 signatures so far to join Russia

The March 16 referendum held in Crimea which resulted in the Black Sea peninsula de facto splitting from Ukraine and joining Russia has spurred on a number of pro-Russian separatist movements around the world, Worldbulletin reports.

Although the countries most worried about the growing trend of referendum calls are primarily located in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and central Asia - where there are pockets of ethnic Russians - a similar trend has also silently started across the US.

According to the Moscow Times, there are currently around 120 separate petitions taking place in different parts of the US calling for annexation with Russia. These petitions are being held on the official White House website, which gives US citizens to create any petition they want. Any petition that gains more than 100,000 signatures must be considered by the US government according to US law.

So far, a petition held in the former Russian-now-US state of Alaska, which was set up just a few days ago, has attracted 18,000 signatures. The petition called “Alaska Back to Russia” has until April 20 to collect 100,000 signatures if it is to be considered.

Citing that Alaska was first settled by Siberians 16,000 years ago and then explored by Russian as early as 1732, the petition called on Alaskans to vote for independence from the US and annexation with Russia.

Alaska remained as Russian territory until the US purchased the region in 1867 for $7.2 million.